For Wednesday, February 25

Finish the novel Picture of Dorian Gray by Friday February 27.


Options for raising your grade/extra credit:  This will take the place of your lowest major grade.

Write the argument essay over the relationship between art and humanity.

Oscar Wilde adhered to the tenants of aestheticism, a late 19th-century European arts movement which centered on the doctrine that art exists for the sake of its beauty alone, and that it need serve no political, didactic, or other purpose.

Name the artist mimicked on this bookcover.

Chinua Achebe believes that artistic and literary works must deal primarily with the problems of society. He has said that "art is, and always was, at the service of man" rather than an end in itself, accountable to no one. He believes that "any good story, any good novel, should have a message, should have a purpose."

Think about the differing views of art.  Then write an essay in which you explain your position on the relationship between art and humanity.  Use appropriate evidence from your reading, experience, or observations to support your argument.

THESIS TEMPLATES:

Templates for making concessions while still standing your ground:

     Although I grant that ________________________, I maintain that _____________________________________.

     Proponents of X are right to argue that _____________________. But they exaggerate when they claim that ___________________________.

     While it is true that ___________________________, it does not necessarily follow that ____________________________.

Templates for agreeing:

     X’s theory of _________________ is extremely useful because it sheds light on ______.

Template for disagreeing:

     By focusing on ____________________, X overlooks the deeper problems of _____________________.